Specialized school seeks volunteers for its 150 students

Whispering Pines School in Miramar is seeking mentors for its 150 students, all of whom were referred there due to emotional, behavioral or mental issues.

"It would be amazing" if every child had a mentor, said Jeanette Wagner, the school's community liaison who began the mentoring program five years ago.

There are currently 20 volunteer mentors, some of whom are paired with more than one child. Wagner would like to see that number at least doubled by fall.

"If they apply now, they can get trained and be fingerprinted during the summer," she said. "They would be ready for the school year."

Mentors must fill out an application and undergo a background check before being paired with a child. Training is four hours, and volunteers must commit at least one hour each week.

"Mentors have to be somebody who is consistent and who takes it seriously because it means so much to the kids," Wagner said.

Many mentors have been part of the program since its inception.

Joe Cangialosi, a retired Hollywood public works employee and the Broward County Public School District's 2013 Volunteer of the Year, previously mentored a foster child for five years before the boy switched schools.

Cangialosi comes to the school twice a week to mentor two boys and takes on other projects, such as the campus' new garden, to work with other students.

"A lot of the kids are without homes, foster kids who have really experienced the most difficult things in life," Cangialosi said. "It's more than just helping them with school. With this group of kids, they're all so different, you have to get inside their head a little bit and just make them happy."

For Barbara Theis, the school's retired media specialist who taught for 32 years, mentoring gives her a sense of purpose during retirement.

"As a retiree, I missed talking to and having contact with students," she said. "It makes me feel gratified, to be able to develop that connection between the student and myself."

Theis has mentored a fifth-grade boy for two years. They work on his reading and his speech impediment while discussing important topics, such as an upcoming birthday party.

"This is huge for him. He wanted a mentor because he saw the other kids had one," Wagner said about Theis' student. "They see it as somebody being there just for them. It makes them feel special, the one-on-one attention."

Griselda Hale, a guardian ad litem with the 17th Judicial Circuit Court of Broward County for 20 years, has volunteered at the school for 10 years. Wagner often pairs her with the more challenging students because of her experience supporting children going through the judicial system.

"It's taught me to really, truly listen. These kids just want to be listened to without being judged," Hale said. "Mentoring is very fulfilling."